Once we were tendered ashore in Belize, which is located in Central America, we boarded a bus to travel outside the city to go horseback riding at the Banana Bank Ranch. Here’s a photo of Banana Bank’s lodge. The lodge is where we met before and after we rode horses. The roof looks awfully heavy. We had to take a half-hour john-boat ride down the Belize River just to get to the lodge.

The original version of this image begged for a new sky, so it received one. Mouse over the photo to see the original. What would photography be without Photoshop?

This shot was taken atop Silver Queen, the horse I rode, during one of the less demanding sections of our ride. You can’t understand from this photo what kind of horseback riding we really did. Becky and I were put into separate groups, both of which were supposed to be for beginners. If our groups were novice groups, I’d hate to ride with the experts. We went through large creeks, up and down steep and muddy hills, rode along the edges of steep drops, and went through swampy areas that were over two feet deep. I was so scared! Becky said that she cried for most of her trip and that she never wanted to ride a horse again. If we can say one thing about Belize, it’s that we’ll never forget it!

When our ride was over, we had lunch in the lodge and afterwards had a chance to see and interact with some of Banana Bank’s interesting pets. First we saw Tica, the majestic Jaguar pictured above.

Then we had a visit with some of Banana Bank’s birds. Here’s Becky with a colorful parrot.